I've been off grixis for a short while now, but I messed around with Nicol Bolas and afterwards Crackling Drake a bit.
I think both cards are great additions, and Drake is definitely the more powerful card. The most crucial element of these cards is not the card advantage they give, but the fact they are flyers with 4 toughness - that's a huge deal. Nicol Bolas was kind of awkward though, because so many modern decks don't even mind discarding cards and operate well with very few resources. Against decks like Humans I usually was able to cast Bolas only after they had already emptied their hand! For these reasons Drake's ETB gets the nod from me. Also, Drake is actually a brutal clock, whereas the flip ability of Bolas should never ever come up in a competitive modern game.
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FuneralofGod posted a message on Sultai MidrangeHe explains why in an earlier post at the top of this page. Trophy gets very awkward when you draw multiples early game when it's likely they still have basics left. Ramping them (with an untapped land!) hurts worse thn you'd think during turn 1-3 or even later if they happen to be stuck on lands.Posted in: Midrange
IMO you want Trophy as a late game catch-all against UWx, or early game against H1 and Tron. Otherwise most circumstances and match-ups I believe Abrupt decay is superior. Against Storm, Burn, Humans, Spirits - Trophy is actively bad so I certainly wouldn't want 4x in my main deck. And TBH I wouldn't play more than 3 in my 75 and I wouldn't run less than 2 Abrupt decay (in the 75)
----EDIT
To point out something people keep overlooking:
Decay is not bad against UW or Tron. It is actively good against UW because it destroys SFA, Detention Sphere, Vendilion, Rest in Peace, little Gideon (if they use him) and it can't be countered. Trophy helps mid-to-late game against Planeswalker, flipped Azcanta, and a lethal Colonnade. Both are important and useful, but you don't want either of them in copious amounts.
Decay kills Oblivion Stone AND kills their turn 1 Map if you're on the play. Both of these applications have been relevant in my competitive play experience. I don't even board out decay against Tron because it kills chalice, and also kills (or forces them to pop) Relic of Progenitus. -
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FlyingDelver posted a message on Sultai MidrangeI am starting to think trophy is probably best as a 3-of. The reason being in many different matchups, decay can do the same without having a downside. And you really don't want multiple Trophies in the opening hand.Posted in: Midrange
If you think about Humans, Decay is almost always just better or at least equally good. Also against Spirits, Hardened Scales or GBx mirrors. Tron and UWx is probably the biggest and moreover single reason to run some trophies (at the current state of affairs! this might change!).
The rule of thumb for cards is that if you want on average one of a given card per game, then run 3 copies of it. Thats the case with trophy for me, I want on average 1 copy per game, for which reason I am on this number right now. -
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FlyingDelver posted a message on Sultai MidrangeWhat I also am currently trying is a more controlling version similar to Todd Steven's list. Mine would look something like this:Posted in: Midrange
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Lands [23]
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Watery Grave
2 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
Creatures [8]
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tasigur, the golden FangNoncreature Spells [29]
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Thought Scour
3 Assassin's Trophy
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Collective Brutality
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Damnation
2 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Liliana, the Last HopeSideboard [15]
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Damnation
2 Collective Brutality
2 Negate
2 Dispel
2 Unmoored Ego
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Ceremonious Rejection -
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gizlow posted a message on Sultai MidrangeComing from playing Grixis in modern, the idea of running Snaps+Angler+LtLH works well, but you might have to support them with more Thought Scours, especially if you add Goyfs to the mix. I think the tension between goyfs who want a stable GY, and Anglers who feed of a one-shot big GY might end up being an issue.Posted in: Midrange -
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idSurge posted a message on Jeskai ControlWithout a clock, it doesnt even matter in my experience. All they do is tutor lands, and then start dropping bombs, with triggers attached.Posted in: Control -
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MarcWizard posted a message on Grixis ControlPosted in: ControlQuote from kaal1002 »I feel like we need another value card for the graveyard, something like bedlam reveler of lingering souls that mardu has. Although I think mardu relies a lot more on graveyard recursion, I also like we don't usually rely on our graveyard so much that grave hate affects us. I think the only real downside to playing Azcanta is that it makes you vulnerable to grave/enchantment hate. I think think twice is borderline playable, or something like forbidden alchemy. It might be a bit mana hungry but I've been thinking about those cards plus something like torrent of souls to have a small reanimator package but that kind of morphs into a different deck.
Between Snapcaster and Tasigur, why do you feel like Grixis is lacking in leveraging the GY? I'd like to think we are right up there with all the GY-leveraging decks. We're one of the few decks that thrive on Thought Scour.
Those 2 cards above are actually precisely the reason we're not on bedlam - snapcaster and tasigur makes it hard for Bedlam to be cast on the cheap, and snapcaster is far more reliable in terms of getting you what you want vs Reveler which is your top 3. Being a Control deck with an above average land count, that certainty is more important than pure card count. In any case, we're a reactive rather than proactive deck, meaning you will end up discarding counterspells to reveler, or choose to keep your counterspells and be stuck with said reveler. This is why Mardu can exploit the devil, because their spells are all proactive (burn and token makers), or don't matter lategame (such as discard spells).
If you really want to enjoy (more) GY action, give Claim // Fame a roll, and max out on young pyromancer. -
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RMelanson posted a message on Grixis ControlI have a crazy, untested idea. Crypt IncursionPosted in: Control -
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rickster_ posted a message on [Primer] Blue Moon: UR Blood Moon/Shackles ControlPosted in: ControlQuote from darkvoidman »Thinking picking up the deck(pyro titi version cause i dont have the combo).My main consern is jund how good is young pyro vs jund ,and how good is titi?Also how you guys deal with veil ?
If you want to beat jund you should play the hard control version, where you make most of their removal spells bad, and liliana's edict less of a back breaking thing. Also to hedge against jund you can main deck an entrancing melody over a clique.
Jund has too many ways to mess with pyromancer (removal, discard it or your spells) and it's a bad top deck. Ideally you'd play pyromancer on turn 4 and kill something, double cantrip, or both.
I've played a version of this deck where it had 3 YPs, and 3 TITIs. The non-bo of those two cards didn't come up that much. However you probably want to play one or the other not both. They're both really powerful two drops so you want to pick one and just play 4 of it so you have a better chance of drawing it.
The way to beat liliana is to not let the jund opponent get value out of her. You don't want them to get edict value. You don't want them to plus her with no cards in their hand. You don't want to throw multiple cards away to get her off the table. Against liliana, and jund in general, you want to keep track of how you trade cards with them.
If you're on the draw, don't slam your two drop creature on turn 2, if the opponent plays turn 3 liliana and edicts you, you just got wrecked. Then on your turn 3 you bolt the liliana, the liliana just got 2 cards, your bolt and creature. That's like the super basic obvious situation to not put yourself in.
If you get edicted, you can get back on card parody if you had an electrolyze. In that instance you traded your 2 drop for their liliana, and cycled an electrolyze (which is card neutral).
Also something to think about is how strong are the cards in your hand. If you are flooded, or have weak/dead cards like opt/remand blood moon, then it might be worth letting the opponent tick up the liliana so you're both trading cards. If your opponent trades their spell for your land with the liliana discard, that's a great trade for you, as you'll have better top decking equity than them. Then you can bolt/snap bolt the liliana at 6 counters, or you can bolt/electrolyze a liliana at 5 counters, and come out even on card parody.
Jace, Cryptic, Snapcaster, electrolyze, clique, young pryomancer are the cards that can help you beat a resolved liliana. -
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stokpile posted a message on Grixis ControlI'm likely to try and just go super narrow on my sideboard spots this week. Something like 4 Brutality, 3 Negate, 1 Dispel, 3 Crumble, 2 Disdainful stroke, 2 Damnation along with 3 fields in the main and just expect to see no other decks in the room. One thing that has helped me a little in casual games against them was going back to ancestral vision (zero jace and one search) purely for the sake of mana efficiency.Posted in: Control
Jace really helps a ton if you can walk into an empty board against those matches but you don't typically have the ability to tap out so early and expect to survive. At least with AV you can cross your fingers that you can interact enough to get there and keep the ball rolling so to speak.
Speaking of the upcoming hate artifact in dominaria I wonder if it will become correct to side them in along side of dispels to stop their nature's claims? Being able to shut them down even if you're on the draw if great and if you're on the play you can stop T3 tron with protection. /Speculation - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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